ITF Men’s Pro Circuit returns to SLTA
KUCHING: After a lapse of two years, the US$15,000 ITF Men’s Pro Circuit has made its comeback to the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association Tennis Centre where the qualifying matches will start today and ends next Sunday.
A total of 59 professional players from 23 countries will be vying for the US$2,160 top prize and valuable 18 ITF points in the week-long tournament which is the first leg.
India are making the biggest presence with 12 players, followed by eight from Japan, seven from host Malaysia and four each from Canada, China and the US.
The rest of the participants are from Belarus (1), Germany (1), Great Britain (1), Indonesia (1), Italy (1), Kazakhstan (1), Latvia (1), New Zealand (1), Philippines (1), Singapore (3), South Africa (1), Russia (1), Taiwan (2), Tajikistan (1), Thailand (1) and Uzbekistan (1).
“This is the first leg of the circuit and the second and third legs will he held back-to-back in Kuala Lumpur. The prize money has been increased from US$10,000 last year to US$15,000 where the singles champion will get US$2,160 and 18 ITF points and the doubles champion will get US$930 and 18 ITF points,” Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president Dato Patrick Liew told reporters in a press conference yesterday.
Liew is expecting a good tournament as the top seeded player is ITF No 330 Alessandro
This is the first leg of the circuit and the second and third legs will he held back-to-back in Kuala Lumpur. The prize money has been increased from US$10,000 last year to US$15,000. — Dato Patrick Liew, SLTA president
Bega of Italy. Four wild cards will be given for the main draw.
“Two Malaysians Ahmed Deedat Abdul Razak and Syed Mohd Agil Syeb Naguib as well as Kunal Anand of India have been given the wild cards while the final wild card will be given when all the players have signed in for the qualifying matches today,” he said.
Other Malaysians who will be playing in the qualifying are Christian Oliver Lee, Damien Rocky, Christian Didier Chin, Shamirul Shahril Mohd Adam Das and Neoh Khai Keat.
ITF referee Abhishek Mukherjee from India, the tournament’s referee, is also expecting a lot of top European players in this event as most of the Asian players are playing in other tournaments in Asia.
“Usually, good players do not come to this kind of tournament and it will be a good opportunity for the few Malaysians to play against the foreign players and see how is their standard,” he added.